"A swan has been detained in Egypt on suspicion of being a spy. Except it looks – in pictures released by the Egyptian authorities, who kept referring to it as a "swan" – like a stork. Perhaps it was wearing a disguise. The bird, allegedly working for the French government, was captured in a heroic citizen's arrest by a fisherman who spotted that it was wearing some sort of electronic device. Disappointingly, some actual investigation found it was a tracking device used by French scientists studying the bird's migration patterns. So much for a bird playing the next James Bond.

..."In her book, Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts, Emily Anthes covers animals that are being genetically modified, either just because we can or to supposedly improve the lives of humans, but some of the most interesting – and alarming – research has obvious military applications. 'We are heading towards a world,' writes Anthes, 'in which anyone with a little time, money and imagination can commandeer an animal's brain.'"